Liberventionism in the Post-9/11 World

September 11th
was a testing point for principled libertarian opposition to the warfare state.
Joseph Stromberg contributed a series of pieces, reflecting on the returning
trend of pro-war libertarianism, which had declined a bit after the end of the
Cold War. Coining the term "liberventionist," Stromberg analyzed the
unfortunate reemergence in "Liberventionism Rides Again,"
critiqued general liberventionist intellectual error in "Liberventionism II: The Flight from
Theory," and discussed the liberventionist tendency to
whitewash the history of U.S. intervention and even advocate total war on
civilians in "Liberventionism
III: The Flight from History."

Reflecting on
the sad divide in the libertarian movement over the war, Jacob Hornberger explained
in "Libertarian
Splits in the War on Terrorism" why we can't expect to ever
have a free society as long as we have a perpetual War on Terrorism.

David J. Theroux
and Karen DeCoster warned about the assaults on American liberty that would
come with the burgeoning warfare state, and the impossibility of using
aggression and central planning to bring about security, in "The New U.S. War
on Liberty."

Standing
against the criticism of the libertarian opposition to the war, early after
9/11, Justin Raimondo defended the antiwar libertarians in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Postrel?"
and L. Neil Smith did so as well, while expounding on the non-aggression
principle as it relates to war, in "War of the
Weenies."

Justin Raimondo
explained how there was more hope for libertarians than many might think in his
article, "Long Live
Libertarianism!" – an inspiration for anyone at the time
who was worrying about the death of rationality and principle in this movement
of ours. In his speech "War and Freedom,"
Lew Rockwell reflected on the disappointing performance of mainstream
libertarians, and the horrible bloodthirstiness of conservatives and the Bush
administration.

Iraq and the Continuing Delusion of Liberventionism

When some
libertarians went beyond supporting the Afghanistan War to advocating war on
Iraq, it became clear that liberventionism was not going away and was not only
an understandable, if disappointing, visceral reaction in the immediate wake of
9/11.

After Justin
Raimondo challenged the Libertarian Party to take a firm antiwar position in
his speech, "Libertarianism
in the Age of Empire," activist and writer Thomas Knapp chimed
in, with "The Party and
War," explaining why the Libertarian Party could not afford to
be soft on the issue. Shortly after Gulf War II began, Robert Higgs addressed
the demented mindset of liberventionism in "Are Pro-War Libertarians Right?"
Harry Browne reflected on the many ways libertarians had to violate their own
principles in "Libertarians and
War."

Randy Barnett vs. Libertarianism

In response to Ron
Paul’s heroic statements against the Iraq war during his presidential
campaign, Randy Barnett, anarcho-statist, wrote an article
in the Wall Street Journal asserting that one could be a libertarian and
support the aggressive war in Iraq. This has been met by an avalanche of
responses, many of which are included by Stephan Kinsella’s “An Overview of
Criticisms of Randy Barnett on Iraq and War.” In
addition, Robert Higgs wrote a letter to the
editor, part of which was published in the WSJ, which added his
expertise to the issue.